


on the eve of tomorrow

by onewgiri



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Action/Adventure, M/M, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-09
Updated: 2017-10-09
Packaged: 2019-01-15 08:03:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,079
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12317058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/onewgiri/pseuds/onewgiri
Summary: Kyungsoo kisses Chanyeol goodnight before he goes to sleep. When he wakes up, he’s in a different room and Jinri keeps telling him that it’s all just a dream. Kyungsoo would believe her, until he saw the soundwave ring on his finger. A ring that reads forever.





	on the eve of tomorrow

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt # 26  
> Warnings: Minor Depictions of Violence  
> Side Pairing/s: KyungsooxSulli  
> Notes: 
> 
> Writing this story has been a roller coaster ride for me. I don’t know why, but I have once again chosen a prompt that is out of my comfort zone. I have to say that I really had a hard time in this one, with the fest coinciding with major exams of my college life, and all. I’ve always been a slow writer, but I swear I became 10x slower when writing this lol.
> 
> Thank you to the wonderful mods, for their dedication and patience, really. I must have tested you a lot :’D thank you to my fellow tako writers, for continuously encouraging each other, either through kkt or twt, and spazzing chansoo and exo in general, too :D y’all have become my tako buddies, and you are part of the reason why I decided not to drop this fest ((and I’m so freaking glad that I really didn’t do it)) Thank you, prompter. Your prompt really caught my interest that even with knowing that I’ll be busy with school, I still took the risk, because I love it so much. I know this might have strayed too far from what you had in mind, but I hope you will like it nonetheless. Huge thanks, to tlist, my favorite people, for cheering on me. Most of all, thank you to my beta, R, who have supported me and reassured me in times of self-doubt, been there cheering for me as soon as I reported joining this fest. You have been a great help to me, thank you. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy this one. Til next year tako buddies!

 

 

 

Kyungsoo sees a man on the bed. He’s sitting on the mattress, wearing nothing but the sheets that are wrapped around the lower half of his body. His face is smudged in black ink and Kyungsoo has to come close and cup his cheeks in his hands to realize that the black ink is not exactly on his skin, but just on Kyungsoo’s vision. Kyungsoo rubs his eyes but it’s still there. He couldn’t see. He doesn’t know how he looks like.

The man holds Kyungsoo’s hand that is on his face.

_Hey Kyungsoo, remember. Remember alright? I’m telling you, we mean forever._

Kyungsoo nods, and even though Kyungsoo could not see, he knows the man has smiled at him. Something about the way he proceeds to hug him, pulling him to lie down on the bed, tells him so.

Minutes after, Kyungsoo lifts himself up to be able to look at the man. His vision is quite clearing, but he still can’t his face. However, Kyungsoo feels warmth inside his chest, and he knows, from the bottom of his heart, that whoever this man is, he loves him.

Kyungsoo leans down, kissing the man.

_Goodnight, Chanyeol._

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darkness welcomes his vision as Kyungsoo sits up and roams his eyes around the room. He’s still catching his breath, chest heaving up and down animatedly as if he’s been running around being haunted. There are no lights and the curtains are closed, but there is a bit of sunlight escaping the curtains, slipping through tiny slits.  Kyungsoo quietly listens to his own heartbeat. There’s nothing else in the room but the sound of his breath reverberating through the walls.

He had a dream.

There had been an explosion… a big one— one that he can’t be saved from. Is he even alive right now? Kyungsoo’s hands roams around himself, feeling his body for wounds and burns. There’s nothing. His skin is intact with his body, and his clothes are on. The burns he had felt when he woke up are gone, or might not even be there in the first place. Kyungsoo feels himself calm down with that realization.

It was a dream.

Kyungsoo notices a glass of water lying on top of the bedside table. He hurriedly fishes it and slugs it down, anxiety dissipating with every gulp. When he finishes, he sets the glass down back to its place, before roaming his eyes around the room.

Everything is still and quiet.

Then a shadow moves, from the corner of the room.

“Who’s there?” Kyungsoo holds his breath.

The shadow moves to open the curtains and a ray of sunshine soon hits Kyungsoo’s face. He covers his eyes with an arm, buying time to adjust his eyes with the sudden brightness. By the time he opens his eyes, a woman with milk white skin and plump lips is walking forward, coming to his vision.

“Jinri.” Kyungsoo utters, seemingly habitually.

Jinri smiles, a warm and kind smile, her eyes turning into crescents as her lips turn upwards. She’s beautiful, her face small with some strands of her hair falling elegantly against her skin, her cream silk dress outlining the curves of her body. Kyungsoo thinks it’s such a blessing to see her so early in the morning, to witness her smile at this time of the day, to have such a beauty as the love of his life.

Ah, Jinri. His beloved wife—

Kyungsoo abruptly stands up.

“Wait, I don’t know you.” He mutters, giving Jinri one more look.

He knows her. Her name is Choi Jinri. She’s 27, a year younger than Kyungsoo. She has one sister, older than her, and a father who already passed away. Her mother is a bitch who left them when they were young. Heck, he even knows her favorite color is pink. But all these information about her seems rather foreign, distant.

Does Kyungsoo even have a wife? He— he had someone, but it’s not her.

“What are you talking about, Kyungsoo.” Jinri steps forward, looking dejected. “I’m your wife. I’m Jinri.” Her voice almost cracks, her eyebrows furrowing. She walks towards Kyungsoo immediately, capturing him into a hug. “You still dreaming, sleepyhead?” She casually asks, but her hold on Kyungsoo is tight.

Kyungsoo is at lost, frowning in deep thought. There are images running through his head right now. A man— a tall and faceless man— and other flashes of sceneries of explosions and forest fires. “No, I don’t think it was a dream.” His head aches, and he faintly pushes Jinri away to put pressure in his nape with his palms. His eyebrows furrow. “I’m not— I think i’m not from this place. There is somewhere else I should be. There is someone else who I love—“

Kyungsoo stops when he notices the way Jinri is shaking, clinging back onto him. Her arms that are wrapped on Kyungsoo’s shoulders are tightening even more, her body pressed so close against Kyungsoo’s that he can feel the way her chest heaves while she breathes. “You _are_ dreaming, fool.” She says, the playful tone in her voice rather contrasting her body language.

“I— I am?” is all that Kyungsoo can say, dumbfounded. This girl… this woman. She’s clinging into her so desperately as if her life depends on it. His mind suddenly clears and he remembers the times he spent with Jinri— from the time he used to court her, sneaking to her back yard every evening, to the time they’ve walked down the aisle, with only the two of them to witness their marriage. Kyungsoo feels guilty to have dreamt of weird things, confusing them for reality, and bringing up those ideas to her. It must have been scary, the idea of her husband loving someone else.

“You’ve always had bad dreams.” Jinri says, softly.

His dream… was it bad? Kyungsoo thinks it wasn’t. He suddenly doesn’t remember.

“I’m sorry.” Kyungsoo murmurs, hugging her back now, lips just above her ears. “Yes, it was a dream.” He confirms. It was stupid of him to scare his wife over a dream he can’t even remember now. His place is here, and the one he loves is here, has been beside him for five years now. Kyungsoo pats her head, palms smoothing her dark hair.

It was minutes later, after swaying in an unknown rhythm with their bodies locked together, that Jinri pulls away, taking Kyungsoo’s hand on her own and uttering the words _I love you._

And it was at that moment, when Kyungsoo notices a ring on one of his fingers, a ring that is present in his left hand but not in Jinri’s— a soundwave ring— does Kyungsoo’s head spin again, and his illusions of a five year marriage dissolve like bubbles in the air.

He stares at the ring, screaming _forever._

He remembers kissing Chanyeol goodnight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo scans the room with his eyes.

The walls are a dirty shade of white, with wooden windows and wooden floors. There are no chairs, but there is a single dining table on the center, one that is too low so people will have to sit on the floor. Beyond the wooden sliding door, overviewing from the room is a courtyard with a small garden on the left side, scattered on the ground. From where Kyungsoo is standing, he can also see the gate across the courtyard, opened, viewing the street. It is surrounded by a fence made of stone, with a roof that is made of clay. It is clear by now that Kyungsoo is inside the perimeter of a traditional hanok home.

Jinri is in the kitchen is a few inches away from him, her back turned against him.

“Won’t you sit down, Kyungsoo?” She asks, turning her head to see Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo nods his head, but he doesn’t sit down. Jinri turns back to her task.

Kyungsoo’s memories are supplying that he could be in Busan. The air is too clean to be in Seoul, and the quality of the structure seems too far from the rebuilt traditional houses of Bukcheon. Kyungsoo mentally counts how many hours it should take to go to Seoul, even though he’s not entirely sure if that is where he should be going to.  

He turns his head back to the direction of the kitchen, eyeing Jinri.

How could such an innocent-looking girl abduct him?

By now Kyungsoo considers all of his memories with Jinri as fake. The courtship, the marriage, the love— all are clear in his head but hazy in his heart. Jinri was a daughter of a nobleman, loved and praised for her beauty, and Kyungsoo is just one of the many who yearned for her hand. She was a woman so sought for that her marriage with Kyungsoo wasn’t well taken by her family, all because they think she’s worth more than a man with a lowly job.

His job— what was it supposed to be? Kyungsoo doesn’t remember. There are fractions of his memories that are blurry, images that Kyungsoo can’t seem to grasp no matter how hard he tries.

Scratch that. These memories aren’t Kyungsoo’s.

Kyungsoo’s own memories are nowhere to be found. He can’t remember any damn thing aside from Jinri. Not where he’s from, how old he is, or who is he— _is his name even Kyungsoo?_ All he has in his mind are blurry images of an explosion, of a fight, sirens, and a silhouette of a tall young man— a man whose face he can’t remember, but a man he so dearly love, the man who promised him _forever_.

Kyungsoo looks down at the ring in his finger, a carved shape in the middle resembling a soundwave.

Jinri finishes cooking and asks Kyungsoo to sit down again. Kyungsoo complies this time, propping himself down the floor. She places a handful of dishes in front of Kyungsoo before sitting down across him with a small smile.

“Eat up.” She says.

Kyungsoo is skeptical. He’s well aware he’s not supposed to eat anything that his abductor will give him, but he smiles, not wanting to give her a hint of his awareness. “I’m not really hungry. You eat.” He says, pushing the bowl of chicken soup she just placed in front of him towards her.

She seems to accept the rejection easily, as she takes the bowl and starts eating on her own.

Kyungsoo rests his arms on the table, staring at the woman eating in front of her. He doesn’t know how many accomplices she has, or if it was her who captured him in the first place— it could be very possible that she is just a tool to keep him in check, considering how they erased all his memories and implanted fake ones on him. However, no matter how much Kyungsoo looks around, there are no CCTV cameras, or no person suspiciously lurking around. Still Kyungsoo is smart enough not to hastily run away and get shot; he knew he had to move carefully.

He turns his head, staring outside. The skies are grey. Kyungsoo thinks it could rain any time soon. The wind blows and carries pink petals along with it, coming from the cherry blossom tree beside the house, sprawling them on the courtyard. There are birds that have flocked at the roof of the gate, but they soon fly away when a boy passes by, with baggy clothes and a cart of scraps. The boy stops briefly in front of the open gate, peeks, then waves to Kyungsoo’s direction.

Startled, Kyungsoo straightens up, staring at the boy smiling brightly at him. His face is small, ears covered by his mushy hair. He has big and pretty eyes, seemingly twinkling at Kyungsoo, and all his teeth are showing as he smiles widely. Kyungsoo turns to Jinri, who isn’t giving any sort of acknowledgement to the boy’s presence as if she didn’t notice him, before he turns back to the boy, smiling back.

It seems to satisfy him, as the boy stops waving and bows. He leaves, pushing his cart along.

Kyungsoo stares at him from afar, until Jinri calls for his attention.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo’s assumptions crumble down when he sees a photo of him and Jinri together in their bedroom, taken on their wedding day.

The photo is in black and white. Kyungsoo was wearing a military uniform, camouflage printed, while Jinri was wearing a traditional hanbok wedding dress, her hair tied up and her lips and cheeks tinted with what Kyungsoo assumes to be a light shade of pink. It is resting on the top of a wooden shelf, a few inches away from Kyungsoo's reach that Kyungsoo has to tiptoe to get the frame in his hands.

Kyungsoo is not an expert in analyzing photo fabrications, but this one looks real.

He places the photo frame down a much lower shelf, and starts roaming around to look around the room— for what, he doesn't know— he'd look at anything worth looking at right now. He goes through all the shelves, through Jinri’s cabinets, even through the ones that are supposedly his, containing clothes that are all of men's. He goes to the bed and checks beneath it, on its sides, and even on the underside of the mattress, but there's nothing— no other things he can get any answer from.

Defeated, he slumps down the bed, the mattress burying down with his weight. The mattress is hard, probably made of cotton yet a little rough against Kyungsoo's skin. As far as Kyungsoo remembers, Jinri is a son of a nobleman, he wonders why she couldn't have gotten a better mattress, or better yet a better bed— the wooden bed frame is close to cracking right now.

It's when he moved to arrange the position of the equally as hard pillows that Kyungsoo catches something with his fingertips. He sits up, lifts the pillow, and finds another set of photos beneath it.

There are three pictures in total, all in black and white. The first one is a photo of Kyungsoo in a military uniform, eyes staring straight to the camera with a slight smirk in his face. The second photo is the same as the wedding picture he saw earlier, only this time in full body and less formal. Jinri is slightly taller than him in here, and Kyungsoo is smiling like he’s had all the riches of the world. The third one is a photo of both of them in the courtyard of a hanok house— this very house— where they are not looking at the camera but at each other, just laughing together, Jinri hitting Kyungsoo’s shoulder in so much laughter while Kyungsoo smiles widely, eyes forming crescents with all of his teeth showing.

The Kyungsoo in the photos looks so happy, having been married to Jinri.

His head aches all of a sudden and Kyungsoo loses his grip on the photos, making them fall to the ground. He quickly pushes a hand on his aching temples, rubbing them.

Is he actually married to Jinri? Was he hallucinating after all?

Jinri enters the room and spots Kyungsoo leaning on the wall, supporting himself from falling. She quickly runs towards him, noticing the fallen photos on the floor in the process.

She takes his hands from his temples and holds them tightly in her grip. “What’s wrong?”

Kyungsoo could not answer, could not speak. There are too many things flowing through his head right now, memories from when the photos were taken. Kyungso had been there, sitting in a wooden tool in the middle of a photo studio. Jinri was behind the camera man, urging Kyungsoo to smile so much that he unintentionally gives a small smirk. Kyungsoo had been there, sitting once again on that chair, this time with Jinri beside him, right after marrying the love of his life. Kyungsoo had been there, too, in this humble home, in the courtyard, laughing as they welcome the life of the married.

He suddenly can’t tell the fake from the truth.

Jinri pulls him out of his thoughts by resting Kyungsoo’s hand on her shoulders to help support his weight, bringing it to Kyungsoo’s vision. Kyungsoo’s eyes land on their intertwined hands, then to the one resting on Jinri’s shoulder, before it lands on the ring in his finger once again.

All of a sudden, the headache submerges.

Kyungsoo inhales a sudden rush of air, not aware how much he had been holding his breath. Jinri assists him to sit on the mattress, her hands now on his shoulders to support his unstable body, before she dashes off to the kitchen. When she comes back, she hands a glass of water to Kyungsoo.

Jinri waits for Kyungsoo to drink water before she asks, "What happened?"

Jinri and Kyungsoo happened. They were real. The marriage, the courtship, the love-- everything was real. They were not fake memories. They were two people who really existed and fell in love.

But that Kyungsoo, isn't _Kyungsoo._

The Kyungsoo that he is Do Kyungsoo, twenty-seven, a college professor. He has bad eyesight and good professional reputation, and has a pretty good salary. He raises two dogs with his husband, Park Chanyeol—if he remembers right— whose face he still can't remember.

But the Kyungsoo whose memories he had, the one who married Jinri, wasn’t him.

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer, only gulps down from the glass of water Jinri handed him earlier, hoping he’ll swallow his own anxiety down his throat. Jinri lets him off and proceeds to gather the fallen photos on the floor. Once she collected all three, sits down on the mattress, next to Kyungsoo.

Jinri smiles fondly at the photographs, her hands through the surface of the photographs. She tells stories Kyungsoo already know of— the story behind each picture, and how she and Kyungsoo fell in love. Kyungsoo watches her talk about him, the _other_ him— about his eyes, his lips, the way his eyebrows furrow, and his deep laughs— and realize that her love for him is genuine. That in here, wherever he is right now, _he_ once existed.

He notices the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

“Why are you crying?” Kyungsoo asks, baffled. He places the now empty glass down the bedside table. He shifts in his position, facing Jinri, admitting well to himself that he is quite worried.

Jinri sniffs and wipes the side of her eyes with the back of her hand, still eyeing the pictures. “I just missed you.”

Kyungsoo’s eyebrows furrow. “I’m here though.”

Jinri lifts her head up, stares into Kyungsoo’s eyes and smiles.

“Yeah.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo formulates his second assumption after Jinri has calmed enough to prepare for dinner:

He might be in a different world. 

It’s ridiculous, but there could be no better explanation. He now remembers where he came from, although vague. There were skyscrapers, magnetic trains, and zeppelins floating in the sky. Television screens project from high-rise buildings into the thin air, where a newscaster will always be reporting about a political dispute somewhere else. It was quite chaotic. After almost one hundred twenty years of peaceful living, the invisible walls between the north and south are building up again, and in no time the reunification can crumble into pieces.

On the contrary, this place seems rather peaceful.

Jinri walks from the kitchen to the dining area, setting down another set of meal into the table, this time pork bone stew. Kyungsoo actually sits down the first time Jinri asks him to, eyeing the food cautiously, picking on it with his chopstick and sniffing its scent.  He’s stopped doubting the woman, but a few precautions can either save his empty stomach or his life. Jinri gives out a small laugh, stretching her arm through the table to get a cut of meat from Kyungsoo’s bowl, before she chews it with enthusiasm, bouncing on her seat.

Kyungsoo eyes her, then finally eats from his bowl.

They finish dinner quietly with barely any conversation, Jinri asking Kyungsoo if he’d like another serving of rice. It was evening, the skies have turned black since forty minutes ago, and the air speaks of approaching summer. Jinri has told him to drink more water this afternoon, and tells him to be more careful, warning him of the hot evenings.

Jinri has just finished washing the dishes with Kyungsoo sitting on the porch, staring outside when a loud sound— that of an explosion— was heard, startling Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo nearly jumps from where he was seated, instinctively drawing back into the house. “What was that?”

Jinri wipes the kitchen sink, her back facing Kyungsoo. “Don’t mind it. It happens at this hour.”

Kyungsoo hears another sound and peeks outside. There are airplanes, three of them, coming from northern direction approaching past their house, to the south. He turns back at Jinri once again. “What is happening?”

Jinri dries her hands with a towel, before turning around and facing Kyungsoo. “A war. A war has been happening some time now.”

Kyungsoo swallows a lump in his throat. “What war?”

Jinri shrugs her shoulders. “The country has been a mess after the division of north and south. It’s been chaotic. They claim to care about the country, but not the people.”

Kyungsoo steps forward, towards Jinri, an odd conclusion forming in his mind. “You… What year is it?”

Jinri stares at him oddly, as if he just asked the most obvious thing in the world. “What do you mean? It’s 1950.”

Kyungsoo didn’t even have time to process this information when a loud whistling sound is heard, approaching closer and closer, and he tilts his head to witness a bomb drop right in the middle of their courtyard.

Kyungsoo quickly envelopes Jinri in his arms.

It explodes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darkness welcomes his vision as Kyungsoo sits up and roams his eyes around the room. He’s still catching his breath, chest heaving up and down animatedly. There are no lights and the curtains are closed, but there is a bit of sunlight escaping the curtains, slipping through tiny slits.

He had a dream.

There had been an explosion. A bomb dropped, right in the middle of his courtyard.

Kyungsoo gasps and his hands instantly roam around himself, feeling his body for wounds and burns.

There’s nothing.

It is a dream, no matter how real the burns that crawled through Kyungsoo’s skin felt, almost like the fires of hell, eating him alive. Everything was a dream.

The bed creaks with a sudden change in weight and Kyungsoo turns to his side only to find a woman lying down beside him, resting sideways, staring at him. Kyungsoo stares back at her, registering how peaceful she looks. There are tears hanging from the side of her eyes, probably from a good night's sleep.

"Good morning." She suddenly utters.

Her voice was sweet and calm, but it startles Kyungsoo anyway. Still, he manages to reply a brief, "Good morning, Jinri." Ah yes, Kyungsoo remembers now. This woman is his wife, his beautiful wife.

“I had a dream—” Kyungsoo starts but Jinri cuts him off by shifting on her position, before she sits up.

“You’ve always had dreams.” She says, standing up and scooting for her slippers with her feet. "Let's go eat." She says before marching out of the bedroom.   

Kyungsoo follows after a little while, after he’s done contemplating what the hollow feeling in his chest might be. It is a little suspicious that something so surreal would be a dream, but Kyungsoo accepts it just because he doesn’t have any other explanation for it. He settles down the table without Jinri having to call him, while she prepares for breakfast at the kitchen.

Kyungsoo propped his elbows on the table and rests his head on his palms, turning to stare outside. The skies have become grey. He thinks it could rain any time soon. The wind blows and carries pink petals along with it, coming from the cherry blossom tree beside the house, sprawling them on the courtyard. There are birds that have flocked at the roof of the gate, but they soon fly away when a boy passes by, with baggy clothes and a cart of scraps. The boy stops briefly in front of the open gate, peeks, then waves to Kyungsoo’s direction.

Kyungsoo looks at the boy smiling brightly at him. He knew he’s met the boy somewhere, but can’t point it out. He studies him once more, registering his features, his small face, mushy hair and toothy grin. Kyungsoo hasn’t even smiled back yet when the boy stops waving, bows, then leaves, pulling his cart along with him.

"Minggyu really likes you." Jinri says, snapping Kyungsoo from staring at the boy's retreating back.  She places a big bowl of chicken soup on the table, in front of Kyungsoo.

"Minggyu?"

Jinri nods, taking a seat before adding, "Yeah. He comes here every day just to greet you."

Kyungsoo takes that in, and proceeds to eat. When he lifts his chopsticks with his hand, he sees a band slotted in his finger. Kyungsoo studies it for a while, before his head starts to ache. Images of a man in black clothes start appearing, and Kyungsoo recognizes the foreign thing on his finger. It's a ring, a soundwave ring, his wedding ring.  A ring that screams  _forever._ Abruptly, everything from yesterday came rushing to him all at once— from waking up with Jinri in her room, being waved at by a boy with a cart, to that explosion at the end of the day.

Everything was not a dream.

Kyungsoo is so shaken that he has to grip on the table. He remembers the feeling of fire swallowing his body. It was hot, and burning. Kyungsoo grips on his throat with his other hand. It feels as if there’s an invisible thread around his neck, choking him until he’s out of breath. He stares at the floor, his head down.

 “Kyungsoo? What’s happening?” Jinri’s voice snaps him out of his trance. His air tubes seem to finally clear and Kyungsoo catches his breath heavily. He looks up at Jinri.

She has a concerned look on her face. “Are you alright?”

Kyungsoo probably doesn’t look alright. He’s sweating, and his face is drained of color, but he nods at Jinri, taking a glass of water and gulping it down. Jinri looks at him worriedly for a while before she proceeds to eat.

They had just finished eating breakfast, Kyungsoo staring out in space trying to piece everything together, when Jinri rests her elbows on the table, her chin on her palms and mutters, “Ah, every day is the same, isn’t it?”

Kyungsoo straightens his back from his slouching position, raising an eyebrow as he eyes Jinri. “What do you mean?”

Jinri smiles, tilting her head to the side. “Tomorrow, shall we go out?”

The tension in Kyungsoo’s body subsides. “Ah. So that’s what you mean.”

Jinri shrugs her shoulders. “So, shall we?”

Kyungsoo stares at her for a while before he nods. “Alright.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the evening, Kyungsoo sits quietly on the porch, anxiously looking around. The skies have turned black since forty minutes ago, and Kyungsoo is subconsciously fumbling with the hem of his shirt when a loud sound— that of an explosion— was heard, startling Kyungsoo, even though he was expecting it. He stands up immediately, walking as deep as he can into the kitchen, away from the courtyard.

Kyungsoo hears another sound. He could envision are airplanes, three of them, coming from northern direction approaching past their house, to the south. His heart is starting to beat wildly in his chest.

Jinri is staring at him with a questioning look from where she is seated in the dining room. “What is happening?”

Kyungsoo glances at the clock, it’s 7:15, before turning back at Jinri. “A war has been happening.”

Jinri chuckles, shaking her head. “I know, I meant you. What is happening with you?”

Kyungsoo stares at her oddly. He’s about to open his mouth to speak when a loud whistling sound is heard, approaching closer and closer, and he turns his head to witness a bomb drop right in the middle of their courtyard.

Kyungsoo quickly closes his eyes

It explodes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo wakes up with catching his breath, chest dramatically heaving up and down. His hand is resting in his forehead, his soundwave ring right above his eyes. Kyungsoo stares at it for a few minutes, still breathing heavily, before he stands up and heads for the dining room.  

The room is empty when Kyungsoo arrives. Wooden door slid open as if it were never really closed. Kyungsoo stood there waiting— hiding behind the folded doors— until the skies turned grey.

The wind blows and carries pink petals along with it, coming from the cherry blossom tree beside the house, sprawling them on the courtyard. There are birds that have flocked at the roof of the gate, but they soon fly away when a boy passes by, with baggy clothes and a cart of scraps. The boy stops briefly in front of the open gate, peeks, then waves.

He’s waving to no one.

Kyungsoo watches him wave to that same spot where Kyungsoo should have been at this hour. Then he stops waving, bows, and leaves, pulling his cart along with him.

Jinri arrives a few minutes later and finds Kyungsoo on the patio, sitting with his feet hanging in the air. She marches straight to the kitchen and places the bags she had to the kitchen sink. Kyungsoo asks where she had been. She tells him she went to market. 

“It was fun. There’s so many things you can buy.” Jinri says, looking back at Kyungsoo. “Do you want to go there? I’ve promised that we’d go out.” She walks towards the patio and pulls Kyungsoo up by the hand, prompting him to stand up. “Let’s go. There’s still some things I wanted to buy.” She smiles, before running down the patio, past the courtyard.

Kyungsoo looks at her, stopping at the gate and looking back at him, mouthing for him to hurry up.

Jinri— she defies everything.

Kyungsoo smiles back and trails after her.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The market is as lively as Jinri had described it to be. There are merchants roaming around the place selling goods from foreign lands. The natives sell local products such as rice, poultry, and linen. Street dancers can be found at different central points, presenting masked performances in compensation with some won. Consumers are going around in groups, as if they’ve brought the whole family and they were here to have fun.

As if they do not know what is about to come.

They’re on their way home, after buying new curtains and mattress sheets, when they pass by a vendor selling jewelries made out of authentic stones. Jinri stops on her tracks and reaches first for an anklet made out of rose quartz, grazing her fingers upon it. Judging by the light on her face, Kyungsoo knows how much she likes it; Jinri had always been fond of pink gems. He places the bags he held in his hands down the ground and turns around to let her take her time in choosing, facing the market street.

Kyungsoo roams his eyes around, observing the people and the place. The stalls are shanties made out of wood, walls and posts of lumber and roofs of cogon. The ground is unpaved, a mixture of soil and dust. The women wore no make-up and simplified hanbok dresses of dull shades of green and blue. Only a few ones, Jinri included, wore colorful clothes. A girl is running with a cart full of fruits, her playmates chasing her. A masked dancer twirls in her place, relieving a lost boy from crying. A baker at the other side of the street is arranging breads onto the stand. A soldier in torn uniform is staring at the pile of breads, before the baker hands him one with a smile. He walks away after a giving a small bow.

Kyungsoo’s eyes continue to roll leftward, then suddenly bounces back to the soldier.

The soldier is tall, leaning against a brick wall few meters away from the bakery while eating his bread eagerly. His eyes are pretty and big, warily looking around every now and then. His hair is cut short, and his ears are big and pricking beside his head.

Kyungsoo’s heart jumps.

“C-Chanyeol?” He utters, a heavy weight in his chest. The name had come and left his memory for a dozen times, but saying it with his own lips sounds right.

“Chanyeol!” Kyungsoo yells, running towards the soldier, across the street. At the background, Jinri’s faint calls for him can be heard, yet Kyungsoo surges forward, through the stream of busy people. The street noise is loud and Kyungsoo’s shouts are easily swallowed. The soldier finishes his food and starts to leave, while Kyungsoo struggles bumping from one person to another. By the time he reached the other side of the street, the soldier is already turning right into an alley. Kyungsoo quickly runs to catch up to him, but not before glancing back at Jinri, who’s staring at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

He mouths a small apology. She will forget it tomorrow anyway.

Kyungsoo sees the soldier turn at a corner, and another. He’s walking briskly, long legs striding in huge steps, and Kyungsoo is having a hard time keeping up. Kyungsoo loses sight of him once, twice, and thrice— but is able to spot him again. It’s when he enters a cock pit arena, full of people than the market will ever be, that Kyungsoo loses him completely, no matter how much he rolls his eyes. He asks around, but everyone is ignoring him, too focused on the cock fight in the middle of the arena.

The sun has started setting when Kyungsoo decides to give up. He’s dragging his feet back to where he remembers leaving Jinri, but the routes he took were long gone from the back of his mind. He was walking with his head down, looking at his torn footwear, when he bumps into a man in uniform, causing him to spring one step back.

The first thing Kyungsoo notices is the ring on man’s finger— a ring identical to his own—before his eyes trail upwards, to the man’s face.

Kyungsoo gasps. “Chanyeol.”

Chanyeol opens his mouth but no words leave his lips. He stares at Kyungsoo with a shocked expression in his face, as if he shouldn’t be here. Kyungsoo curls his finger toes.

 “Kyungsoo?” He finally utters.

Kyungsoo is about to open his mouth to speak but a sudden explosion pushes his words back to his throat. He looks up at the sky and sees a fleet of airplanes flying southwards, black thick smoke emerging from where a bomb had just been dropped, in the distance. The people have started screaming and running, and soon enough the place becomes a total chaos.

Another explosion is heard, and the image of their courtyard flashes through Kyungsoo’s mind. He doesn’t want to think about it, but thoughts of where Jinri might be keep on bothering him. He was fighting the urge to run back to save a girl who’d be alive tomorrow anyway when Chanyeol grabs him by the arm and crashes their lips together, kissing him longingly.

It takes Kyungsoo a moment, before he closes his eyes and kisses him back.

Another explosion is heard once more, this time sounding closer, and the people around them are screaming, crying, and running for their lives, yet Kyungsoo and Chanyeol stand there, in the middle of the disarray, lost in each other, lips pressed together. Kyungsoo knows that this man may or may not be his husband— may or may not be his Chanyeol— but he trusts him, even with their names being only words they have exchanged.

And they don’t have much time, Kyungsoo knows that.

“Kyungsoo.” Chanyeol calls as soon as they part, cupping Kyungsoo’s face into his huge hands. “At the end of Gimpo port, there’s a small shack. I’ll meet you there, alright?”  His breathing is heavy and his words are fast. Kyungsoo knows what he is chasing. He nods.

Chanyeol kisses him for the second time, a little more passionate than the previous one, and Kyungsoo responds with just as much passion and eagerness, holding on to Chanyeol’s dirty uniform. They’re still kissing, tongues dancing in an unknown rhythm when an atomic mass falls from the sky, and the thousand people beneath it helplessly cry.

Kyungsoo reaches for Chanyeol’s hand and squeezes it, before the fires of hell eat the both of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo wakes up a little too earlier than he did the previous days, judging by the completely dark room with no trace of sunlight. Jinri is sleeping soundly beside him, her soft breathing being the only sound in the room.  He swiftly slips out of the bedroom, quietly, not wanting to wake Jinri up, and heads for the bathroom.

He washes himself for the first time in three days.

Jinri is still sleeping when Kyungsoo exits the bathroom. Kyungsoo rummages around the kitchen for anything that can fill his stomach, not surprised that the groceries Jinri bought yesterday are nowhere to be found. He goes through the cabinets and counters and finds some bread hidden in the cupboard. He takes that and places it in a paper bag before stuffing it inside his clothes.

Kyungsoo takes one glance at the bedroom, then leaves.

The sun has started rising when he reaches the market. By now Kyungsoo knows that he is not in Busan, but in Goyang. He appreciates how clean Seoul still is in this time. He waits for the storeowners to set their place, before asking around for the place Chanyeol had mentioned. It was a struggle as most of the residents act as if Kyungsoo doesn’t exist— but he was able to get answers from a few people, all of them questionably dumbfounded by his presence. At noon, Kyungsoo is able to find a small shack at the end of Gimpo port.

Dust starts to cloud inside the shack as Kyungsoo swerves the door open. He steps inside, palm covering his nose and mouth from all the dirt as he observes the room. It’s small and made out of wood, almost like the market shanties. There’s a picture lying on the ground and Kyungsoo bends to pick it up. He dusts some dirt off it before he closes the door and opens the window.

Kyungsoo settles down to sit on the floor, his legs crossed. He brings his hand up to stare at the picture he found earlier. It’s a picture of Chanyeol in his military uniform, his eyes are fierce and his eyebrows are crunched, a far-cry from Kyungsoo’s own one—

Kyungsoo scratches that off. This isn’t Chanyeol nor was that Kyungsoo.

But what are the chances that in this universe, Chanyeol and Kyungsoo would both be soldiers? Kyungsoo smiles at that thought while he moved position, enabling him to lay his back on the wall.

After an hour, Kyungsoo falls asleep, the photograph of Chanyeol trapped between his fingers.

When he wakes up, the sky is already dark, and a series of explosion can be heard in the distance. It’s only a matter of minutes, before one of them lands in Kyungsoo’s perimeter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next day, and the next, Kyungsoo goes back to the same place and waits for Chanyeol to show up. He doesn’t.

 

When the evening comes, Kyungsoo’s body is swallowed by the fires of hell once again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo doesn’t know how exactly he is able to do it, but he manages to wake up before Jinri does for four days now. It must have been instinct— the need to get out of this loop that is eating him up.

He arrives at the port earlier than he did the previous days. The sun is blazing exactly above him, indicating that it’s mid-noon; the air is warm and Kyungsoo is sweating from the long walk. He wipes it with the sleeve of his shirt as he walks through the shack. He settles down and sits at his usual spot.

The summer breeze blows against his skin, entering through the window. The gentle waves of the sea are a lullaby to his ears and Kyungsoo’s eyes can’t help but to start gradually feeling heavy. He leans his back against the wooden wall, fighting the urge to close his eyes. Chanyeol could come any minute now.

The door creaks open after an hour of waiting and Kyungsoo’s half-lidded eyes turn into it. A tall man in a military uniform appears, smiling down at a drowsy Kyungsoo.

“Hey.” He greets in a deep somber voice as Kyungsoo stands to his feet, adrenaline rush waking him up.

The next few minutes are silent messages conveyed with their eyes. Kyungsoo gazes at Chanyeol— in his torn uniform, dishevelled hair, with all the wounds in his forearm and a blooming bruise at the bottom side of his lips— while Chanyeol stares back at Kyungsoo with a smile in his face, as if he didn’t appear before him looking like he came from a war.

The only cue is Chanyeol bursting into a small chuckle, and Kyungsoo comes running to hug him.

He wraps his arms tightly around his body, and in that moment there is no doubt that this is his husband, his Chanyeol.

Chanyeol hugs him back. “I wonder how even in this unknown world, I can still hear your voice worrying like my mom when you look at me like that.” He says, resting his chin against Kyungsoo’s head.

There are no words that can escape Kyungsoo’s mouth at the moment, no words good enough forming in his head. He’s doubted himself for the past three days; perhaps he was waiting for nothing— his memories of Chanyeol were vague and he knew enough to not trust his memories—but now that they are here, Kyungsoo is suddenly so sure. Kyungsoo pulls away from the hug and pulls closer back again smacking at the other’s lips, tiptoeing to reach Chanyeol. He peppers him with kisses all over his face once, twice, thrice— in his cheeks, in his forehead, in his lips and even on the bruise beside it.

It’s in the seconds between Kyungsoo pulling away and Chanyeol opening his mouth to speak that a variety of images flashes through Kyungsoo’s mind and his memory clears up, everything about his life from where he came from starts going back to him. They are sovereign citizens of the United Republic of Korea, both Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, married and raising two dogs in their humble home in Seoncho-gu. They both worked for the government, and it is when they are both assigned under Prime Minister Kim’s intelligence unit that they met each other. It has been seven years since then— Kyungsoo and Chanyeol have been married for five years now.

As bizarre as it is, Kyungsoo knows exactly why all of this are coming back just now—

Chanyeol’s presence is reinforcement to Kyungsoo’s memories.

Kyungsoo was in recon, assessing possible rebels inside Pyeonghwa University, while Chanyeol is directly under Kim’s command. Kyungsoo doesn’t know how and why Chanyeol was decided to be sent here— but waking up next to an empty side of the bed without any notice was horror to Kyungsoo, and knowing where Chanyeol was sent to even moreso— that he didn’t mind how much his seniors stopped him and slipped to follow Chanyeol.

As he looks at Chanyeol, Kyungsoo realizes it might not be the same for him. Chanyeol looks like he has all the answers Kyungsoo seeks. Kyungsoo remembers all of Chanyeol’s actions since then, and how he immediately recognized him on the cockfight pit. Kyungsoo wonders if he’s the only one being eaten by this world.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were leaving for this?” It’s probably not the best time to bring it up, but it can’t help but infuriate Kyungsoo whenever he thinks about it.

“And if I did? Will you _not_ be here right now?” Chanyeol retaliates and Kyungsoo quiets down because he knows, he wouldn’t even let Chanyeol leave.

“I wouldn’t die—“ Chanyeol cuts himself off. “I do die. But I will always get resurrected. The seniors have programmed it to be like this. You didn’t have to worry. I would have come back in one piece.” Chanyeol leans closer and cups Kyungsoo’s face with his big hands. Kyungsoo feels the scratches and callouses in his palms, making it way rougher than it used to be.

“What is it that we need to do here?” He asks.

Chanyeol pulls Kyungsoo to sit down on the floor, beside each other, and starts to tell the story.

Prime Minister Kim suspects that history could be repeating itself, and so it was decided to identify the start of the Cold War, more than a thousand years ago. This is just one angle that is being looked at; most of the seniors don’t think they achieve can good results from this exploration, but Kim is firm in his belief. He came to Chanyeol as a friend, in his residence, and asked for his helped.

“I accepted. You know I can’t _not._ Even if he came to me as Junmyeon. _”_ Chanyeol states.

Kyungsoo nods, taking all in. He bites the side of his lips.

“Why didn’t you show up the last three days?”

Chanyeol’s face instantly falls. “Kyungsoo,” he starts, tilting his body to face Kyungsoo, and rests his hands on his shoulder. “There’s going to be days when I wouldn’t be here.  I won’t always be able to come.”

“What do you mean?”

“Look here, I’m a soldier from the north. I die today earlier than all of you do. I don’t always manage to escape.”

Kyungsoo steps back and looks one more time at Chanyeol, his clothes, his wounds, his bruise on his lips. Chanyeol didn’t have to explain more than he already did.

Chanyeol’s war starts before the drop of the first bomb, Kyungsoo realizes.

They talk like that for a few more hours, sitting on the floor beside each other, Kyungsoo resting his head in Chanyeol’s shoulder. According to Chanyeol, they have been here for ten days, but despite immediately following the same day, Kyungsoo could only count seven. He argues that with Chanyeol, but Chanyeol only says it must have been a lapse.

 Without noticing, the sun has already set. A number of explosions can already be heard, in the distance, approaching nearer and nearer, until they can feel the ground shake with the explosion.

Kyungsoo’s grip on Chanyeol’s hand tightens.

Chanyeol squeezes back and gazes into his eyes. “Tomorrow, I’ll see you. Alright?”

Kyungsoo nods. Tomorrow, they will move.

A whistling sound and—

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Their plan is to get to the parallel as early as they can. According to historical reports, the fighting starts at Ongjin around 4am. Chanyeol has learned to wake himself up as soon as he runs out of breath, at exactly 12:00 midnight. If Kyungsoo manages to do the same, it will take him at least forty minutes to arrive at Gimpo port. The boat ride to Ongjin will take two hours.

Kyungsoo slips out of Jinri’s bedroom as soon as he opens his eyes, careful not to wake Jinri who’s sleeping beside him. He checks the clock— it’s fifty minutes since midnight— and curses internally for all the time that is lost. He quickly washes his face and hurriedly runs to the direction of the port.

The hut is empty when Kyungsoo arrives. He looks around, there’s no trace of Chanyeol anywhere. Kyungsoo wonders if Chanyeol has already left in his tardiness, but because he trusts Chanyeol more than that, he waves it off. He settles down on the floor and waits.

Chanyeol doesn’t show up.

It is afternoon when Kyungsoo remembers Chanyeol’s words, how his war starts way earlier than everyone else, and graphic images of Chanyeol starts to bother his mind. Kyungsoo prays to god that Chanyeol is safe somewhere.

At twilight, Kyungsoo decides to go back home.

Jinri is in the garden when he quietly slips inside the gate. She’s watering the plants while humming a sweet melody, seemingly unbothered by Kyungsoo’s absence. Kyungsoo crosses the courtyard without a word, climbing the porch when Jinri turns and sees him, gasping all of a sudden, water can falling out of her grasp and into the ground.

Kyungsoo stands frozen, as if a thief caught in the act.

“Who are you?” Jinri asks, even though it was obvious in her eyes that she knows who he is. He’s either Kyungsoo, or _her_ Kyungsoo. Kyungsoo apprehends that it’s the latter, but that still wouldn’t be a reason for this reaction. Kyungsoo is confused.

Jinri was the only thing that equates out of this time loop. Her actions were different every day— like how she cooks different meals per day and how she invited him to the market, to do something different— that Kyungsoo had doubted this assumption until the day he met Chanyeol. It was then that Kyungsoo has concluded Jinri as special, as someone who _always_ remembers, so it comes as a shock that right now, Jinri seems not to.

Kyungsoo lets her study him for a while, and watches the expression on her face change from fear into recognition, into sadness.

“How many days has it been?” She asks, her expression now soft.

Kyungsoo shuffles in his position, startled. “So you knew?” He asks, and Jinri nods. Kyungsoo processes that, piecing her actions together. “It’s been five days.”

Jinri nods again, taking that in. “I would have died clueless had you not come back today.”

“How did you know?” Kyungsoo asks, eyeing Jinri curiously. He settles down to sit on the porch with his feet hanging in the air while Jinri walks towards him. “Everyone else is a part of this time loop. Everyone else, except you. How are you the only one aware of the loop?”

Jinri climbs the porch to sit next to Kyungsoo, turning at him. “Because of you.” She answers, giving a small smile. “My guess is you gain awareness once you see something that you know is not of this world, which for me, is you.” Kyungsoo raises an eyebrow. Jinri looks down on her feet and proceeds. “My Kyungsoo has died two days ago, prior to the war, on the other side of the border. I couldn’t spread the news because I was devastated. In here, I’m the only one who knows that you shouldn’t exist anymore. I’m the only one who knows you are not from here.”

Kyungsoo doesn’t answer. He is just staring at his feet hanging in the air when Jinri reaches for his hand. “In your case, this.” She grazes her thumb over the soundwave ring that is slotted in Kyungsoo’s finger.

Kyungsoo looks at Jinri, then at the ring in his finger.

It makes sense. He does gain awareness every time he looks at the ring, though his memories are broken pieces of a puzzle. The stronger trigger is probably Chanyeol, for it’s when he sees him that all of his memories came back.

“I’m sorry.” She says, letting go of his hand and looking back to her feet.

Kyungsoo gazes back at Jinri. “Why?”

“I took it from you. I took your life for three days.”

Kyungsoo opens his mouth to speak, only to close it again. Now, everything makes sense. He now knows where his lost days were, and why he’s the only one getting eaten up by this world, and not Chanyeol. Kyungsoo would have been angry— three days is a lot of time lost— but he isn’t. The way Jinri twitches her fingers, looking down apologetically, prompts Kyungsoo to wave it all off. The truth is he doesn’t even remember how much he lost, and so it doesn’t hit him as much as it should.

They sit there in silence, Jinri still looking down while Kyungsoo looks up to the evening sky, waving his feet in the air. Kyungsoo has a lot of questions lingering in his mind and he knows so does Jinri, but she is too sorry to even look at him.

Kyungsoo startles her by suddenly speaking, ‘’I’m here because there’s something important to me here.” He says, still looking up, while Jinri has lifted her head to look at him. “That something important had to look for something here.”

She opens her mouth to speak, then close it again. She contemplates a few minutes before she finally asks, “What is it?”

“The start of the war.”

“The start of the war.” Jinri mimics quietly. “The war has long since started before it actually did.”

That piques Kyungsoo’s attention. He turns his head at Jinri. “What do you mean?”

“It has long been planned to divide the country. It has long been planned to start a war.”

Kyungsoo swallows a lump in his throat. “By who?”

Jinri turns away from Kyungsoo, facing the gate. “I don’t know. But my husband wasn’t killed by North Korean soldiers. No one wants to wage a war with his own countrymen, I believe.”

Kyungsoo brings a hand into his chin. “A third party?”

“Perhaps.”

Kyungsoo was about to speak when an explosion is heard and he glances at the clock in Jinri’s dining room. It is 7:15 in the evening, and two minutes from now, their day is about to end. Kyungsoo gazes back at Jinri, who is already looking at him with an understanding of what is about to come. They nod at each other, then sat in silence.

“Where are you from?” Jinri asks after a while.

Kyungsoo already hears the aircrafts flying just above them. He turns and sees a bomb falling from the sky, before he turns back to Jinri and answers,

“Year 3000.”

The bomb lands right in their courtyard and explodes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Kyungsoo opens his eyes to a completely dark room. Jinri is sneezing lowly beside him when he turns at his side. He immediately sits up and dashes to the dining room to look at the clock— it’s 12:03. Kyungsoo mentally throws a fist in the air.

After washing his face and packing things he might need along with some food, Kyungsoo prepares to depart, but not before glancing back to the direction of the bedroom. After hesitating, Kyungsoo goes back to the bedroom and wakes Jinri up.

Jinri is still in a haze when Kyungsoo wakes him up, sleep still heavy in her eyes. She rubs the side of her eyes with the back of her hand, then stares at him with an empty look on her face. Kyungsoo is sitting at the side of the bed, gazing back at her.

It takes a minute, before her expression changes into that of worry and recognition, “Are you leaving today?”

There’s a strand of hair sticking at the side of her face. Kyungsoo reaches out to fix it. “I don’t know, but I’m saying my goodbye, just in case.” He hopes to go back to where they came from today, and even if they fail, this is the last time that he’s going to let Jinri see him. He takes his hand back and gives a small smile. “Thank you for feeding me well the past few days.”

Jinri bites her lower lip, looking down. “You don’t have to.” Kyungsoo can see guilt in her eyes, maybe for the days that she took from him. Still, he is grateful that he wakes up with a woman like Jinri, unlike the people that Chanyeol wakes up to.

There is a minute of silence, before Kyungsoo speaks again. “If I leave, what happens to you?” He asks.

Jinri lifts her head up, still eyeing the mattress. Her eyebrows are furrowed and she seems to be in deep thought, before she turns and looks at Kyungsoo in the eye. “I’ll probably die. All of us will.”

Kyungsoo takes a deep breath.

“If you leave, there’s no reason for the loop to restart. When the bombs drop, it’ll be the end of us.”

Kyungsoo feels a pinch in his chest. “I’m sorry—“

“Kyungsoo.” Jinri cuts him off. “I’ve already died. All of us were long dead.” Jinri reaches for his hand that is resting on the mattress and squeezes it, eyeing his ring. “Go complete your journey and leave.” She smiles at Kyungsoo. “And thank you, for the time that you gave me.”

He looks at Jinri and sees it in her eyes— the gratitude, love, and sincerity that she is showing with her words. Kyungsoo gives her a small hug, Jinri hugging him back, before he stands up and marches away.

At 12:15 in the morning, Kyungsoo takes his leave.

Kyungsoo finds Chanyeol outside the shack when he arrives, leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. When he steps closer, Chanyeol opens his eyes.

There are tears at the side of his cheeks.

“Can you hug me?” Chanyeol asks quietly.

Wordlessly, Kyungsoo kneels down and wraps his arms around his husband. Chanyeol snakes his arms against Kyungsoo’s back, burying his head on Kyungsoo’s shoulder. He doesn’t say a word, just quietly squeezing Kyungsoo tighter and tighter.

“Was yesterday horrible?” Kyungsoo doesn’t even want to imagine which ways Chanyeol could possibly have died.

Chanyeol nods his head lightly. “I can never get used to it.”

Hearing those words makes Kyungsoo’s heart ache. He would know— ten times of dying from explosion still has him waking up catching his breath, drowning in anxiety. Kyungsoo can never get used it, moreso Chanyeol. “We have to get out of here.”   He says, pulling away, looking at Chanyeol in the eyes.

Chanyeol stares back at him, then nods.

They depart for Ongjin with a boat Chanyeol found somewhere. Kyungsoo wears the uniform the borrowed from Jinri’s husband— under Republic of Korea Army— while Chanyeol wears the same uniform that he has, that of Korean People’s Army.

They land in a cove in South Hwanghwe and walk a few kilometers to Ongjin. When they reach the boundary, Chanyeol stops and reaches for Kyungsoo’s hand.

He gazes down at Kyungsoo’s eyes, before he leans down for a kiss.

Chanyeol places his hand at the back of Kyungsoo’s neck, pulling him closer. Kyungsoo opens his mouth and lets his tongue dance with Chanyeol’s own one. His hands are wandering on Chanyeol’s broad back, travelling up and down. Chanyeol tastes like worry and fear, yet Kyungsoo indulges himself in every inch of him.

When they pull away, both of them are catching their breaths, their lips colored with a tint of red.

They kiss one more time, a light peck on the lips, before they part ways. Chanyeol to the north, Kyungsoo to the south.

Kyungsoo arrives at the barracks at 3:32 am, he learns when he glances at their wall clock. He casually slips in, hiding his face by looking down while wearing a helmet. A minute later, a group of soldiers prepares to leave for the border, taking the last bite of their meals and standing up. Kyungsoo quietly joins the group and marches to the parallel.

The border is not an actual physical border, but a series of soldiers in two lines, one of ROKA and one of KPA. Apart from that, there are huge stones spaced in equal distance and lined in two, just below the soldiers, and a signage indicating the presence of the parallel.  The first thing Kyungsoo does upon arriving to the border is scan his eyes around, looking for Chanyeol. It doesn’t take him much time before he finds a tall and lanky soldier in northern uniform in a crowd of soldiers some meters north of the border. He’s already looking at Kyungsoo, as if he was just waiting to be spotted.

Chanyeol gives him a small nod.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes around, observing the place. They are in a wide and open field, tall grasses swaying with the summer breeze. Both armies’ barracks are a good fifty meters away, eliminating the noise from both. The two sides of the border aren’t friendly with each other, yet they are also not exactly hostile, some even giving small smiles to the soldier on the other side. At this point, Kyungsoo can assume that they are still one nation.

It’s ironically peaceful— no one would have thought that today, a war will ignite.

After almost half an hour of being free from any disturbances, Kyungsoo starts to wonder if they were in the right place. He looks at Chanyeol, at the other side of the border, and sends him a message with his eyes.

_Why is nothing happening?_

Chanyeol shrugs his shoulders lightly, a crease in his forehead.

_I don’t know._

Just then, a loud blast was heard, startling everyone. Kyungsoo didn’t have to roll his eyes to find where it came from, the soldier right beside Chanyeol has fallen down, blood spurting from his head, and Chanyeol is shaken and frozen beside him.

“Duck down!” Kyungsoo yells, and so Chanyeol did.

Shots are fired one after another immediately, without anyone knowing why they do so. Kyungsoo rolls his eyes and sees a tall soldier retreating his way out, sprinting away as fast as he can. He immediately runs after the soldier, without taking a glance back at Chanyeol.

They’re approximately a kilometer away when the soldier notices Kyungsoo following him and runs faster. Kyungsoo tries to double his speed, running after him in short but quick strides. Then he makes an abrupt stop, takes out his gun, and shoots for the soldier’s leg, making him fall to the ground. Kyungsoo immediately runs to his direction, gun still carefully pointed forward.

As he walks closer, he notices that the soldier is wearing a southern uniform and that his gun has flown away, out of his reach. This prompts Kyungsoo to bring his gun down and he immediately represses the soldier between his legs. He removes his helmet harshly, revealing a western face.

Kyungsoo had actually expected this. “ _Who ordered you to shoot?_ ” He asks in western language.

The soldier looks surprised to have heard Kyungsoo speak in his language. _“I don’t know, I’m sorry.”_ He answers.

Kyungsoo lifts his head up and strangles him with his arms by the neck. “ _Tell me.”_ Kyungsoo tightens his grip on him and chokes him hard until he can’t breathe, raising his hand as a sign of surrender. “ _Tell me!”_ He commands.

“ _My country.”_ He answers, catching his breathe. _“The general, he—“_ Kyungsoo covers his mouth harshly and tightens the grip of his legs around his body. He doesn’t even need to hear anything else. After hearing Jinri’s words and seeing it with his own eyes—soldiers giving small smiles at each other near the border and the baker on the market giving bread to Chanyeol, a soldier in northern uniform— Kyungsoo has theorized that the country is still one nation, despite their physical division. Seeing how a western citizen under Korean soldier disguise started the shootings, his theory has been proven.

Chanyeol finds him just as Kyungsoo finishes tying the western soldier’s hands with a short rope he stuffed in his pocket.

“It’s chaotic down there.” He states, catching his breath. “I know this isn’t our war to fight, but I couldn’t help when so many was dying. I—“

“Duck down.” Kyungsoo instructs, and so Chanyeol did, hiding himself within the tall grasses. “It’s alright. I got him just fine.”

Kyungsoo shifts closer to Chanyeol and tells him his own encounter.

“But this person’s country has long since cease to exist.” Chanyeol says after listening to Kyungsoo, glancing at the captured soldier, who also looks back at him. “It can’t be that it will be the same reason in our time.”

Kyungsoo clicks his tongue. “Think of our allies. Think which of them has western origin—“ Kyungsoo doesn’t even finish his sentence when Chanyeol mumbles,

“Autrein.”

“Right.” Kyungsoo nods his head. “They’ve been too involved with our country lately, even taking sides at that one incident in Pyongyang.  They’re our closest ally and major supplier of fire arms. Think of how much they will gain if a war ignites again.” He states and Chanyeol nods at that. A war will surely cause great damages to the point of needing external reinforcement, which is usually agreed to in exchange to being a nation protectorate, which is really just a fancy word for colony.

They start deliberating what to do upon getting back, ignoring the nonstop sound of gunshots and grenades being thrown around. They decide which things to report and suggest to the prime minister— maybe cutting allegiance with Autrein, or maybe a temporary isolation policy. It will be great loss economically, but a united country will be worth it all.

They’re discussing more on the topic, focused on each other, that they didn’t notice that the captured soldier who was able to loosen the rope in his hands and reach for his gun until he shoots Kyungsoo at the back.

Chanyeol is shocked but manages to fish for his gun and shoot the soldier, straight in his forehead, killing him at once.

Chanyeol crawls his way into Kyungsoo, who has fallen on the ground, and lifts him in his arms. “Kyungsoo.” He utters, shaking.

There are blood coming out from his lips, but Kyungsoo is smiling. “I was just wondering how I can’t wait for today’s loop to end. Now I got it.” He laughs, causing a rush of blood to run out of his mouth.

That doesn’t make Chanyeol laugh. “This feels horrible.”

Kyungsoo smiles again, reaching for Chanyeol’s hand, intertwining their fingers. He stares at their wedding rings, right next to each other. “Don’t cry, idiot. You know too well that I’ll be in one piece again tomorrow.” He tells Chanyeol, but Chanyeol couldn’t help it. Even with the knowledge of resurrection, watching life slowly slip away from his husband is agonizing, piercing him.  Tears are falling at the side of his cheeks.

“How many times did the loop ended like this for you?” He asks, and Chanyeol tries to think.

“A lot.” He simply answers. He’s not in the state of mind to count.

“Then this one time is okay.” Kyungsoo weakly laughs, then coughs out more blood, staining Chanyeol’s uniform. “Tomorrow. I’ll see you?”

Chanyeol nods. “Tomorrow.”

He feels his eyes getting heavier with each passing second. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

 Kyungsoo finally lets his eyes close.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One sharp breath, and Kyungsoo’s eyes fly open.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What welcomes him is the familiar warmth of smooth sheets and soft mattress. The room has a scent of cedarwood, and from the corner of his eyes, Kyungsoo can see white walls and granite floors. The curtains are opened, allowing a good amount of sunlight to come in through the windows and light up the room, giving it a morning glow. A smile forms at the side of his lips.

He’s home.

He shifts his body around. It’s always been his instinct to immediately turn to his right, to face the one he likes to greet mornings with—

Chanyeol’s side of the bed is empty. Kyungsoo’s heart starts thundering in his chest and he can feel his face being drained with color. He suddenly sits up, eyes roaming around the room.

Chanyeol is not here.

_Did Chanyeol not made it back?_

While absorbed in his thoughts on where Chanyeol could be, the door creaks open and a dog with curly black hair comes running towards Kyungsoo, climbing his bed and jumping into Kyungsoo’s arms. Another dog follows shortly after, closely identical to the first and comes running to the two of them.

Then a voice resonates, coming from the living room.

“Toben! Mongmul! I told you Kyungsoo’s still sleeping!” Chanyeol murmurs in a hushed voiced, before he peeks at the door and spots Kyungsoo awake and looking at him.

“Oh. Good morning.” He greets. His face is void of wounds and his clothes are neat and casual. He walks towards the edge of the bed, smiling at Kyungsoo until he notices the shocked look in his face. “Why do you look pale—“ Kyungsoo cuts him off and jumps to hug him, letting go of Mongmul in the process, kneeling at the edge of the bed.

Chanyeol is baffled, but he wraps his arms around Kyungsoo. “What happened?”

“Where have you been? Idiot.” Kyungsoo is trying hard not to let out a shaky voice. _God,_ he was so scared. Chanyeol answers that he fetch for their dogs at Jongdae’s. He’s saying other things like how it was such a relief Jongdae had a key to their house or their dogs would have starved, but Kyungsoo couldn’t care less, too absorbed in the feeling of Chanyeol in his arms and the way his chest vibrates when he speaks. It was brief, but the thought of Chanyeol being left in that place made Kyungsoo shake in anxiety. He couldn’t imagine living another day without Chanyeol.

Chanyeol stops speaking when he notices that Kyungsoo still hasn’t said a word. He pulls away to look at Kyungsoo, then pulls closer once more for a tighter hug.

“We’re back.” He declares.

Kyungsoo could feel the tears threatening to fall. He has waited for those words for a mere ten days— but those ten days have never felt so long. He wraps his arms tightly around Chanyeol once again.

They stay like that for a few moments, basking in each other’s warmth.

When they pull away, Chanyeol tells him that he’s been asleep for six days. It was stress, their unit doctor, Minseok, said, and so he told Chanyeol not to worry. He fills him in for the reports he have made to the Prime Minister as well as the steps they have taken. In recent investigation, it is discovered that Autrein does a lot of suspicious transactions with Korean state enemies and have been sly in siding with both the northern and southern factions. Prime Minister Kim is doing all preparations necessary to cut ties with the foreign country.

“The day before yesterday, the Prime Minister announced an isolation policy.” Chanyeol says.

Kyungsoo nods at this, processing all the information. It is a sudden change that everyone might go against with, but Korea must be left to its own devices at this point. It must be free from foreign intervention for some time.

Chanyeol looks around, then bends down to pick a newspaper. He hands it to Kyungsoo.

The headline reads: _North and South agree to peace talks at Yeongchon._

Kyungsoo looks up at Chanyeol, who’s smiling at him.

“It’s one baby step.” He grins.

Kyungsoo smiles at him, before he turns back to the newspaper. Everything seems to be worth it all— dying every day in an explosion, getting killed with a gunshot, experiencing the chaos of a war— as long as his people wouldn’t have to go through all of that.

Without noticing, Kyungsoo already has tears in his eyes. Chanyeol smiles before wipes the tear away with his finger. Kyungsoo’s eyes land on the soundwave ring on Chanyeol’s finger—their wedding band— and thanked the heavens for its existence, for it’s fundamentally the one that saved him from being eaten up by that world.

Chanyeol cups his face with his large hands. “We’re heroes. Alright? In our own little way.” He says, before he closes the gap and kisses Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo smiles into the kiss, then pulls away. “I didn’t need to be a hero. I just want you not going anywhere far from me.” He says, and true to his words, Kyungsoo knows he’ll face any war as long as he’s with Chanyeol.

Chanyeol chuckles, before he leans down for another kiss.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> A little bit of inspiration from Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Asian Boss Interview with North Korean Defectors, The Korean War: A History by Bruce Cummings (Please do read this if you have time!), Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, exo’s song The Eve and The War concepts. 
> 
> Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. References were made but for the most part, the story is a result of the author’s imagination and does not reflect real historical events. Any historical inaccuracies were mostly intended to fit to the story. Thank you for reading.


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